Mr. Boner Law's speech was an excellent example of his
really brilliant debating power. " We have heard of people being thrown to the wolves," he said, "but never before have we heard of them being thrown to the wolves with a bargain that the wolves should not eat them." In the course of a very damaging criticism of the Government's position he taunted them with having played the part of agents provocateurs. After Sir Edward Grey had made an attempt to defend his colleagues, in which he declared that he loathed coercion, but the road to certain revolution was fur the Government to allow their policy to be dictated or influenced by the politics of the officers of the Army—a gross example of begging the question—and after Mr. Chamberlain had described Colonel Seely's resigna- tion as a "put-up job," Mr. Churchill defended the Government's plan for holding the strategic positions in Ulster in force and for backing up their action by the move- ments of the Fleet. The ordering of the squadron to Lamlash was not in any way connected with the special precautionary movements that had been described, but all the same it was
going to Lamlash, and there it would stay during the con- tinuance of this crisis. Mr. Churchill ended with a political menace. The real issue was the Army versus the People and Parliament. It was always right for the Army to shoot down the Radical or Labour man, but when it was a Liberal quarrel then no gentleman would demean himself by doing his duty to the Crown and Parliament. A more monstrous attempt to confuse the issue, or rather to state an untrue issue, was never made, even in the House of Commons. In the end the Government carried the second reading of the Consolidated Fund Bill, which gave the excuse for the debate, by a majority of 92 (314-222).
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